Pulling down poverty ...brick by brick

 

 

R atlam, a sleepy town in the middle of Madhya Pradesh. Hitherto little known, it invaded national consciousness recently by a strange quirk of filmy fate! In the Bollywood flick, Jab We Met, Kareena Kapoor’s character gets stranded, of all the dozy corners in this great country, in Ratlam – a plot device used to highlight and reinforce the obscurity of Ratlam. But Ratlam is not like all other sleepy towns that India has in abundance. The people of this city are being stirred by a quiet but determined revolution. And not just any revolution, but one which has the potential to become a nationwide movement, a movement of change for the better. Just on the outskirts of the city, next to the highway, is the site of the revolution – Ahimsa Gram. A small cluster of about 100 permanent dwellings arranged neatly in horizontal rows with drainage and sanitation facilities, it is home to about 97 families (of below poverty line), from different castes and religions, all living together harmoniously. Two years since set-up, the Gram has remained without incident to date.

Ahimsa Gram is a social experiment by the Chaitanya Kasyap Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the alleviation of poverty, by enabling the poor. Brainchild of Chaitanya Kasyap – a multi-millionaire from Ratlam, Ahimsa Gram is a unique approach in tackling the root causes of poverty. As I talk to Chaitanya Kasyap, he tries to explain the thinking behind the Gram, “I was always interested in improving the lot of our people, but did not want to just donate money. I wanted to create a sustainable and long-term model of poverty alleviation specific to India”. Sometimes life’s greatest successes spring from one’s failures and that’s exactly what happened to Kasyap. Frustrated with his inability to effect a lasting change on the students of his foundation-run-school in Bijnor, he decided to study the reasons. “After interviewing the parents and the kids, I realised that if the environment doesn’t change, education alone would not have a lasting impact. I also toyed with the idea of making hostels for the students in order to foster their all round growth, but the idea was rejected since it seemed rather impractical. As we delved deeper into the problem we realised that our aim of all-round development could only be achieved via a complete change of environment, specifically a non-violent environment”. So, Ahimsa Gram was conceived on the basis of this fundamental question, “How do you meaningfully and in the long-term affect a person’s life for the better”? The answer was deceptively simple – shelter. “Shelter is one of our basic needs; if that’s taken care of, a person can truly focus on improving his lot. Moreover by providing shelter in a safe, hygienic, non-violent, open and accepting environment we ensure that the people and their children will become responsible and contributing members of society”, Mr Kasyap adds forcefully. So with a personal investment of about four crores, he decided to build exactly 100 dwellings, each with 250 sq ft of built-up area with two rooms and attached kitchen and toilet, and lease them out for 10 years to people living below the poverty line. He invited these people from all over Ratlam, caste and religion no bar, to participate in his initiative and apply for a home in the Gram. Thousands came forward, and after a lot of due diligence and background checks, about 97 families were admitted. That was two years ago, “initially we were sceptical ourselves as to whether this unique social experiment would work or not, so we kept quiet and observed”, recalls Mr Kasyap. Two years hence, convinced of its success, the Foundation decided to communicate its triumph to the whole of India. I’m told I’m the first “English journalist” to have visited Ahimsa Gram after people started living here. At first go, this tiny hamlet looks very ordinary, although you are struck by its cleanliness. A shopkeeper, Satish Jain, whose shop was set up by Ahimsa Gram staff, is very happy. A government employee, Satish works from 5 am to 2 pm with the government sponsored mid-day meal schemes and afterwards he looks after the shop, earning around Rs 2000. His wife, too, is working now and earns about Rs 1000 a month. He is now able to save about Rs 1500 per month. Earlier it was none. Now he wants to teach his children right upto college and beyond. Moreover, a teacher holds tuition classes in the evening for all the kids at the Gram. This unlikely success story is one of many that are being scripted in Ahimsa Gram on a daily basis.

Laxmi Prasad, a Brahmin lady living in a Brahmin exclusive street in Ratlam, is now living in a thoroughly mixed neighbourhood, with different castes and religions. She finds the experience wonderful as they celebrate each other’s festivals and help each other out in times of need. She says she hasn’t discriminated or has been discriminated against by the other residents. In these two and a half years she’s bought a Godrej almirah, a DVD player and a colour TV. “We haven’t bought any cassette for the DVD player yet”, she tells me. In Ahimsa Gram women are considered equals and expected to contribute financially as much if not more than their male counterparts. Premlata Chauhan, the women’s co-ordinator, resident of the Gram, teaches about 97 students in two shifts. She also teaches crochet work, and helps out in papad making too. Women at the Gram work at various jobs – they make papad, grind spices, stitch notebooks and mobile covers. The extra income sure helps, but what matters more is the change in the attitude, which had prevented them from working in the first place. “After we applied, the organisation helped us a lot, and we’ve made progress; our standard of living has gone up. People who arrived here with just 4 utensils to show for their possessions, now have TVs, refrigerators, coolers, etc. Every child is getting a good education, some in private schools, some even take tuitions. “The money being saved by the parents is going into their children’s education”, says Premlata. She manages to save about 1200 per month. “If you work hard you can save upto Rs 2,000 a month”, she continues. What next? I ask Mr Kasyap after his obvious success with Ahimsa Gram. “It’s been two years since the formation of Ahimsa Gram and the idea is spreading. Dr Satya Narayan Jatia, an MP from Ujjain has seen Ahimsa Gram and he’s created a trust there for creating more Ahimsa Grams, this time with about 150 dwellings. Then there’s H.S. Raka of Modern Woolens in Rajasthan. He’s also making an Ahimsa Gram in a village near Chittor, also with 150 dwellings. The work will begin this year. So we’re putting forth Ahimsa Gram as a model to be adopted. Moreover, we also want the government to now consolidate all their developmental schemes. Be it housing, land allotment or providing employment, the government should adopt a holistic view of things. The main aim should be poverty alleviation.

Now the government too has gotten into the act. In Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Scheme the government itself has specified that the houses built should have a minimum of 250 sq ft of built-up area, with two rooms and attached kitchen and toilet, and the buildings should be clustered around each other. With proper drainage and sanitation facilities, I believe that they have been inspired by Ahimsa Gram somewhere. I want my effort at Ratlam to be seen as a model to be emulated all over India, only then can we effectively fight against poverty”. Amen to that!